Sintering machine



Jan. 15 1924.

R. L. LLOYD SINTERING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 13, 1919 [MENTOR IZJ'AMJ: m 4, B)

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 15,1924.

NlTED STATES RICHARD L. LLOYD, or NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO DWIGHT & LLOYD sm'rnam COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y..

A CORPORATION or DELAWARE...

SINTERING MACHINE.

Application filed October 13, 1919, Serial No. 330,482. Renewed an. 19, 1923.

T all-whom it may concern:

Be it know that I, RICHARD L. LLOYD, citi-.

effected by flames of gas or vapor or liquid.

fuel applied to the surface of the ore. But

these methods are often very expensive because the gas or liquid fuelmust be transported great distances and often for this purpose only. Coal, however, is required at nearly all places to furnish powerat the mines for the mining and the handling of the ores, and at such places the greater amount of the sintering is performed.

And, again, many sinterable ores refuse to ignite quickly at their surfaces, and if flames of gas or vapor are utilized for ignition it is necessary to spread them out over a large area of the ore while it is moving along under the igniter in order to have the top ore particles subjected for a longperiod of time to the gas flames. This necessitates the use of a large amount of the expensive igniting fuel. I I a The purpose of the present invention is to provide an igniter, for use with a sinter-l ing apparatus, which will utilize a small amount of solid coal in reduced condition, as theigniting fuel, and have'this solid coal so regulated, as to the size of its particles, and

as to its roportion to the air volume, that long period at points adjacent the top par-- ticles of the ore.

My device is well adapted for use with sinterin machines of that class in which each inc udes a series of small ore carrying cars or .pallets, which in turn, successively,

(a) receive charges of ore, (7)) pass under an igniting device which sets up combustion in the top strata of the ore charge; (a) pass over an air suction chamber'or under an air blast chamber which causes the combustion the sintering process has been completed,

5 and (e) then return for new charges of ore.

its partic escan be utilized as igniters for a pm downward thru the mass of ma terial. in the car, (12) then discharge the ore after It will be found adapted also for. use with s ntering and roastin mechanisms of other kinds without departing from the spirit of the invention, provided proper modifications are made.

For clearness I have omitted from thedrawmgs many of the details of; construction of the sintering apparatus, as an entiret showing only those which relate more particularly to the matter 'of ignition. A complete description of the construction and operatlon of such a sinterin apparatus as 1s indicated herein, is iven in Letters Patent No. 1,027 ,084, issue to Henry J Stehli, Mag 21, 1912, to which reference can be ma e. i

Fig. 1 is a view, largely-diagrammatic,

showlng some of the parts ofia sintering apparatus in section,'on the central vertical transverse plane of the igniting apparatus,

and showing" the fuel supplying devices in elevation.

Fig. 2 is a'sectional view of th@ mechanism for forming, and supplying to the ore ig niter powdered fuel.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the rotar l I of the grinding mechanism, and showing the .casing in section.

Fig. 4 shows in. section the nozzle for supplying fuel to the i iter;

n the drawin work is indicate it having uprights 1', 1, bottom cross bars 2, upper cross bars 3, and suitable bracebars 0f the required number and dimensions, all bolted securely together t e. usual mainframein the usual way to form a rigid support for the various parts of the sintering apparatus. 4, 4 and 5,. 5 indicatethe usual track rails supported'on the said framework. On these rails are fitted the wheels 6, 6 of the ore cars or pallets 7, 7. In its upper positionin Fig.

1, the pallet 7 is traveling away from the observer and away from the feeding hopper i 54; and in the lower position, it having discharged its contents, is returning toward the observer. These pallets, 7., 7 comprise the retaining sidewalls 9,, 9, and the-bottom parts 8, which are grate-like in construction,

retaining the ore material in the car, but

permitting the passage of 'air currents. 10 is the air chamber'over which the pallets, containing the ignited ore, pass; and 11 is a duct leading from this chamber 10 to a suit-- able fan or suction device which causes cur-- rents of air to flow down through the ore in the cars, into the chamber 16, and then through the pipe 11 to the suction mecha-' nism. This draft causes the combustion to travel downward thru the strata of the ore While the pallets are passing over'said chamber 10, 12, 12 are channel irons secured to the cross bars 3, to support the air chamber walls 10, which are provided with outwardly flaring edge parts, 13, 13, and the wearing bars 14, 14, secured to-the shoulders 15, 15, of the edge parts 13, 13. The wearing bars 14, 14, insure a tight'connection between the bottom edges of the sides of the orecarrying pallets 7 and the upper edge parts 13, 13, of the chamber 10, a requisite feature for efficient operation of the air suction devices. 16 is a door to permit access to the interior of the air chamber 10, for the removal of accumulations ofore particles which might be drawn thru the grate bottoms of the pallets by the-force of the air draft.

18 designates, as an entirety, the igniting device, it being shown as a box suspend ed over the pallet'path by the hangers 19, 19, which are secured to a part of the framework not shown, in any suitable manner. This ignition chamber comprises the roof 20, the front wall, 21, and a rear wall similar thereto, the solid side wall 22 and the opposite side wall 23, having an aperture 24. The width of the box 21.is' made somewhat greater than the width of a pallet, for a purpose hereinafter described. The lip 25 decreases the width of the open area at the bottom to equal the distance between the pallet walls 9, 9. 26 is a pipe leading from the .blower or air pump 27 and having the horizontal section 28, the latter terminating in the nozzle 29 which is positioned in the aperture 24. 30 is a pipe leading to the blower 27, it having a horizontal section 31 which at 32 bends downward and enters an enlarged chamber 33. The lower part of this chamber 33 tapers down toa throat,

41, the latter secured to one end of the shaft 36. 42 is an inclined feed duct leading from the bottom of the hopper 35 thru the casing of the grinder 39, and thru the stationary disc 30 under control at 51 of gate 50. The end of this feed duct is concentric with the rotary grinding disc 41 and discharges material from the hopper 35 at points between the inner grinding surfaces of the disc 40 and 41. 43 is a rectangular opening in the front wall of the grinder casing and 44 is a pipe leading from a similar opening in the rear wall of the casing to a point intermediate of the top and bottom of the chamber 33, into which it leads.

Power is applied to the shaft 36, for rotating the air pump 27 and grinder 39, by a belt on the pulley 45, which latter is keyed to the shaft 36. 46 is a removable air tight door for the hopper 35 thru which the coal or its equivalent may be supplied thereto.

The method of operation of my improved device will be readily understood. After the hopper 35 has been charged with coal or its equivalent, and the door 46 tightly closed, power is applied to the shaft 36, andthe blower 27 and the grinder 39 are put in operation. Coal passes by gravity from the hopper 35 thru the pipe 42 to the grinder 39 where it is pulverized between the discs 40 and 41, and then carried, again by gravity, to the bottom of the grinder casing. In the meantime a current of air controlled by suitable valves as at 53, has been set up by the pump 27 which is drawing the air in at the orifice 43 and creating a suction in the duct system consisting of the pipe 44, the chamber'33 and the pipe 30, 31. The pulverized material is drawn from the grinder 39, up thru the pipe 44 and into the chamber 33. At this point, because of the enlarged diameter of the chamber, compared with the pipe 44, and the consequent reduction in carrying power of the air blast, the

relatively large particles of the coal dust fall back into the hopper, and the relatively smaller particles are carried up into the pipe 31 and down thru the pipe 30 to the blower 27. .From this point they are forced by air pressure up thru the pipe 26, 28 under control of suitable valves, as at 52, and out thru the nozzle '29 and into the ore firing box, where they can be easily ignited, initially by an external flame and thereafter by internal combustion.

The ignition box 18, acting as a holder, will direct the hot particles downward to the surface of the ore, but this deflection does not commence until the fuel reaches vertical lines some distance in from the nozzle 29. If the'nozzle were placed directly over one side wall 9 of the pallet, the ore adjacent that wall would not be impinged on b the burning particles from the nozzle. ence the box 18 is made wider than the pallets, as described above, so that the nozzle can be set, back from the vertical line of the edge of the pallet to insure an even distribution of the hot particles over the entire top strata of the ore.

Admission of a sufiicient amount of air to secure ignition of the coal particles in the chamber 18 is assured by the large orifice 24 which has a greater diameter than that of the nozzle 29 andaffords easy entrance of air which is drawn in by the suction created by the discharge at the mouth of the nozzle. The air so entering can be regulated by dampers, or the like, at 47, to correspond with the quantity of air in the fuel mixture that is delivered from the nozzle, under control of suitable valves as at is, 49.

The devices which grind or comminute the carbon are arranged so as to be adjustable in any of the well known waysto effect a coarser or a finer reduction at discretion; and, similarly, the ducts are provided with adjustable valves, or equivalents, for regulating the volume and the force of the currents of air which move upward with the coal particles.

The flames delivered to the surface of the ore which are obtained by the burning of gases, such as illuminating gas, or those obtained from the burning of oil have only a brief action upon the ore as it is moving along, and many ores, when being sintered, refuse to quickly light at all points over the surfaces, and an imperfect ignition is secured. But I havesucceeded in providing an igniting agency, the particles of which will maintain a more prolonged period of burning, as the carbon can be delivered in such relatively large proportion that the particles after becoming heated will fall upon the ore surface and remain there in a hot condition while completing their burning and will transmit heat to the ore surface for a longer time than will the flames obtained from gas or vapor.

What I claim is:

1. In an ore sintering apparatus, the combination of means for forcing air thru a predetermined area of an ore stratum, means for supporting a stratum of sinterable ore and for advancing it past and in operative relation with the said air forcing means, means for supplying ore to the supporting means and for forming a uniform stratum thereon while the supporting means are moving toward the air forcing means, means for supplying, in a stream, a combustible mixture of air and powdered solid carbon, and a holder adjacent the ore and arranged to receive said stream and direct the flames of combustion of the powdered solid carbon to the surface of the ore while it is moving from the ore supplying means to the air forcing means.

2. In an ore sintering apparatus the combination of means for forcing air through a predetermined area of an ore stratum, means for supporting a stratum of sinterable ore in operative relation with said air forcing means, means for supplying ore to the supporting means, means for supplying in a stream a combustible mixture of air and pulverized solid fuel, and a receptacle ad- RICHARD L. LLOYD. 

